Pacific Rim is a stunning mindless action film, but in the end that's all it is; a mindless action film.

Rating: 7/10 (11 July 2013)

Words could not describe how excited I was for Pacific Rim. Yes, it was a blockbuster about giant robots fighting giant monsters, but between Del Toro directing and all the early praise it was receiving from critics and filmmakers alike I went into the early screening extremely giddy. I'm sorry to say I didn't leave the theatre with the same enthusiasm.
In 2013 a wormhole known as "The Breach" connected our world with another, letting monsters known as "Kaiju" invade earth. Millions of people were killed and entire cities were levelled After years of defeat in the war against the Kaiju the governments of the world joined together and developed "Jaegers", giant fighting robots sort of Mighty Morphing Power Rangers meets Gundam. We pick up in the year 2025 with the Jaeger program failing as bigger and deadlier Kaiju are coming out of the Breach. With not much time left the governments call together the last of the Jaegers for one last final showdown in Hong Kong.
I really wanted to like this movie. In fact I wanted to love it but I didn't. For the opening 30 minutes I was really into it, the quick news flash wrap up of the Kaijus first landing and the invention of Jaegers led me to believe this movie was going in a different direction than the trailer showed and I deeply wanted it to. Since there was so much praise for this film, there had to be more to it, right?
There wasn't. Everything plot-wise was given away in the trailer. The only thing that trailer didn't show was the bad dialogue and over-the-top acting (arguable). There is lots of intentional comedy, which worked fine, but the rest was the bad kind of cheesy; the kind where you can't tell if they made a mistake or not. While I'm sure people are going to tell me it was intentional I can't say that it being intentional really makes it better in this case. I'm a huge fan of that meta/self-aware style but only when they use it to say something, to drive their theme or message home and I can assure you the overall message in Pacific Rim was not driven forward by ironic poorly delivered dialogue.
Despite the overall negative tone of this review I actually ended up having plenty of fun with the film and I will say that it is an awesome monster movie. The overall production was quite a marvel to watch. The visuals are breathtaking and the soundtrack/sound design compliments the visuals masterfully. There is no doubt that Del Toro has left his visual signature all over this film. The soundtrack wasn't a bunch of dubstep noises either, which was one of my only concerns going into the film originally. There was actual score and it built up the emotion of the scenes better than most of the actors did. I would say that this film is highly enjoyable,as long as you don't go in expecting more - which I will admit is difficult if you've read any early discussions on the film.
I put most of the blame on myself. I'm sure if I didn't hype this movie, and didn't read all the early praises I would have had a much better time with it. That's why I'm giving this film a decent rating, since I firmly believe it's my fault for not being in the right state of mind. The way people were reacting made me expect that this would be more than the trailer, more depth to it, you know? Pacific Rim is a stunning mindless action film, but in the end that's all it is; a mindless action film. I guess it's my fault for expecting more.
I can't stress how much I wanted to love this film enough. I REALLY love Guillermo's work however this just didn't do it for me. I'm sure this movie will find its audience and I'm also sure my review will get ripped apart by his fans. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing it again in a different mindset. I think I'll like it more the second time.
Our Rating: 7.0/10
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